During his first week in office, President Donald Trump signed three Executive Orders instating new federal direction for immigration into the United States.
The first pertained to the status of sanctuary cities. The order states that sanctuary jurisdictions were unlawful, and that the secretary of homeland security will publish a weekly list of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. The order contained other provisions related to tracking and sharing supposed criminal activity of undocumented immigrants.
San Francisco filed a lawsuit against this order. San Francisco became a sanctuary city on January 31.
Mayor Mike Murray declared Seattle a sanctuary city the day following Trump’s election.
Learn more about the definition of a sanctuary city here.
The second order called for the building of a physical wall on the US-Mexico border. It also called for apprehending undocumented immigrants who were suspected to have committed a federal or state crime and expedite to determine if the persons should stay in the United States or not.
Both orders were signed on January 25.
A number of local politicians condemned the Executive Orders including Gov. Jay Inslee, King County Executive Dow Constantine, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Mayor Murray
“Today is one of the worst days for immigrants in America since Japanese internment,” said Mayor Mike Murray in a statement.“I want to assure Seattle residents that while they are right to be alarmed about President Trump’s divisive vision, they should not be concerned that this City will be bullied into stepping away from its commitments and values.”
Rich Stolz, Director of OneAmerica, in a statement said the orders were “an affront to American values.”
“The actions would militarize our borders and would compel local law enforcement to act as immigration officers or have their cities risk losing federal funding. This makes all communities less safe,” Stolz said.
